Power supply feed-forward compensation technique

Abstract

A power supply feed-forward compensation technique using power consumption hints. One embodiment includes a power estimator to generate a power consumption hint that indicates a power consumption level of a component. A transfer function compensation circuit generates a power supply adjustment signal as a function of the power consumption hint and a power transfer function to the component.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. An apparatus comprising: 
       a power estimator to generate a power consumption hint that indicates a power consumption level of a component;  
       a transfer function compensation circuit to generate a power supply adjustment signal as a function of said power consumption hint and a power transfer function to said component, said power transfer function being derived at least in part from a plurality of sensor inputs.  
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said transfer function compensation circuit comprises a digital signal processor that approximates an inverse power transfer function from said power transfer function. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said transfer function compensation circuit comprises: 
       a load sensor to receive a load voltage level at the component;  
       a reference sensor input to receive a supply voltage level;  
       an inverse transfer function calculation circuit to receive said power consumption hint, said load voltage level, and said supply voltage level and to compute said power supply adjustment signal.  
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 3  wherein said inverse transfer function calculation circuit comprises an adaptive filtering circuit. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 4  wherein said plurality of sensor inputs further comprises: 
       a hub voltage sensor input;  
       an I/O voltage sensor input.  
     
     
       6. An apparatus comprising: 
       a power summation circuit to compute a power consumption hint as a sum of a plurality of weighting values associated with and indicative of a power consumption level of each of a plurality of functional blocks;  
       a compensation circuit to generate a power supply adjustment signal as a function of the power consumption hint and at least one voltage sensor input.  
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 6  wherein said plurality of weighting values linearly represent the power consumption of the plurality of functional blocks. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 6  wherein said plurality of weighting values are stored in programmable memory locations. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 6  wherein said power summation circuit is only to include weighting values in said sum for enabled ones of said plurality of functional units. 
     
     
       10. A system comprising: 
       a processor comprising a power estimation circuit to generate a power consumption estimate;  
       a variable voltage supply;  
       a compensation circuit coupled to provide a voltage supply adjustment signal to the variable voltage supply, the voltage supply adjustment signal being a function of the power consumption estimate, a reference voltage sampled proximate said variable voltage supply, and a load voltage sampled proximate said processor.  
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10  further comprising: 
       a compensation circuit programming module to sequence said processor through a series of power consumption levels to calibrate the compensation circuit.  
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 11  wherein the compensation circuit programming module comprises software stored in a machine readable medium. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 10  further comprising: 
       a power estimation calibration circuit to calibrate said power estimation circuit according to measured current consumption.  
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13  wherein said power estimation circuit comprises: 
       a look-up table to store a plurality of weights representative of power consumption levels for each of a plurality of operational units;  
       a summation circuit to add ones of said plurality of weights corresponding to enabled operational units.  
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 14  wherein said power estimation calibration circuit determines each of said plurality of weights. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 11  further comprising: 
       a power consumption estimator calibration circuit to calibrate said power estimation circuit according to measured current consumption, said power consumption estimator calibration circuit to be activated prior to said compensation circuit programming module as a part of a calibration procedure.  
     
     
       17. A method comprising: 
       receiving a power consumption hint from an electronic component;  
       receiving a plurality of sensor inputs from a plurality of sensor points;  
       providing a power supply adjustment signal as a function of both the power consumption hint and a system transfer function derived at least in part from the plurality of sensor inputs.  
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17  wherein providing the power supply adjustment signal further comprises adaptively computing and adjusting an inverse transfer function. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17  wherein the power supply adjustment signal is a function of the power consumption hint, a power supply input, and a load input. 
     
     
       20. A method comprising: 
       summing a plurality of initial estimate power consumption weights associated with and indicative of a power consumption level of active ones of a plurality of functional units of a processor to derive a processor power estimate for the processor;  
       adjusting said plurality of initial estimate power consumption weights based on processor operation.  
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 20  wherein adjusting comprises: 
       running a plurality of tests that actuate different sets of functional units;  
       measuring power consumption during said plurality of tests;  
       calculating a new set of power consumption weights based on said measuring.  
     
     
       22. An apparatus comprising: 
       a plurality of sensor inputs;  
       a voltage supply adjust signal calculation circuit, said voltage supply adjust signal calculation circuit being coupled to said plurality of sensor inputs to receive a plurality of sensor input signals and to generate as a function of said plurality of sensor input signals a voltage supply adjust signal.  
     
     
       23. The apparatus of  claim 22  further comprising: 
       a power consumption hint input, wherein said voltage supply adjust signal calculation circuit is coupled to said power consumption hint input to receive a power consumption hint signal, and further wherein said voltage supply adjust signal calculation circuit is to calculate said voltage supply adjust signal as a function of said power consumption hint signal.  
     
     
       24. The apparatus of  claim 23  wherein said plurality of sensor inputs comprise a voltage source sensor input and a load sensor input. 
     
     
       25. The apparatus of  claim 22  wherein said plurality of sensor inputs comprise a voltage source sensor input and a load sensor input. 
     
     
       26. The apparatus of  claim 22  wherein said plurality of sensor inputs comprise a voltage source sensor input, a processor sensor input, and a bridge or hub component sensor input. 
     
     
       27. The apparatus of  claim 26  wherein said plurality of sensor inputs further comprise a memory sensor input, and an I/O sensor input.